Report: Cadillac Sticking With Diesel Plans

There’s never a lack of diesel drama these days, particularly with luxury brands. Just this week Mercedes-Benz confirmed it would not offer any diesel vehicles on the U.S. market for the 2017 model year (for now), but Cadillac is staying cool on the subject for now. According to a Car And Driverreport, the brand is maintaining its plans to add diesel engines to some of its vehicles.

The report actually stems from the fact that parent company General Motors sold its European subsidiary that often led development of diesel engines for the mothership. The sell-off and increased scrutiny from regulators around the world has led to speculation that Cadillac may ditch its diesel plans.

While GM did sell off the Opel and Vauxhall brands, it maintained its engineering center in Turin, Italy. This facility, technically part of GM Powertrain, is the one that works on the engineering of most of GM’s diesel engines. The fact GM kept this facility as its island operation in Europe suggests the company is planning to keep churning out diesel engines.

“The diesel program has been affected, but not catastrophically,” an unnamed source told Car And Driver.

Cadillac has been vague about which models will eventually obtain diesel power. Many years ago the brand stated it had plans for diesel versions of the ATS and CTS, but those have yet to ever pan out. The brand feels diesel variants will be imperative to improving sales in Europe, where Cadillac is currently a very small niche player at best.

About Nick Saporito

AutoVerdict Senior Editor Nick Saporito began writing about cars at age 13. Nick ran a couple of automotive enthusiast sites for several years, before taking some time off to focus on his career and education. By day he's a marketing executive in the telecom world and by night he hangs out here at AV. You'll find him focusing on tech, design and the industry's future.